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Not a shredder amp by any means but cool in it's own way.
From what I could find the Montgomery Airline amps were made by Danelectro in the early 60's then by Valco (think Silvertone) later in the decade until they closed shop.
Then someone...not sure who, used the remaining Valco inventory to continue making the Airlines for a couple of years.
That's where this amp falls in.
Construction is simply stunning.
Point to point using terminal strip risers.
(4)x12AX7, 6V6 Reverb tube (!), (2)x 6L6GC power.
To say the reverb on this is full and lush is an understatement!
For fans of Fender early silverface Twins, this is your gal.
But she won't break up no matter what...I tried!
Used high gain 12AX7's but all that did was increase volume a bit.
It is cathode biased, SS rectified.
B+ is only 385V so it runs a bit on the cold side...it really should break up but I couldn't get it to except some from driving the speakers.
And the vibrato, oh my.
Same design as the first Fender brownfaces and I think Magnatone, vari-bias.
Work summary:
Kept the cans in place (disconnected) and mounted new caps on lexan.
Plus one other 47uf, fresh paired cathode resistors and bias cap.
Replaced a dodgy cap on the reverb and left the rest of them alone.
Reattached one spring in the reverb tank.
Replaced volume pot on channel 1.
Clipped the death cap off.
Installed three prong cord.
Connected a channel bridge on the switch that was "Line Reverse", not needed after safety upgrade.
Pic...dig the dashboard lights!
Face1After.jpg
MWAirlineGut1.jpg
From what I could find the Montgomery Airline amps were made by Danelectro in the early 60's then by Valco (think Silvertone) later in the decade until they closed shop.
Then someone...not sure who, used the remaining Valco inventory to continue making the Airlines for a couple of years.
That's where this amp falls in.
Construction is simply stunning.
Point to point using terminal strip risers.
(4)x12AX7, 6V6 Reverb tube (!), (2)x 6L6GC power.
To say the reverb on this is full and lush is an understatement!
For fans of Fender early silverface Twins, this is your gal.
But she won't break up no matter what...I tried!
Used high gain 12AX7's but all that did was increase volume a bit.
It is cathode biased, SS rectified.
B+ is only 385V so it runs a bit on the cold side...it really should break up but I couldn't get it to except some from driving the speakers.
And the vibrato, oh my.
Same design as the first Fender brownfaces and I think Magnatone, vari-bias.
Work summary:
Kept the cans in place (disconnected) and mounted new caps on lexan.
Plus one other 47uf, fresh paired cathode resistors and bias cap.
Replaced a dodgy cap on the reverb and left the rest of them alone.
Reattached one spring in the reverb tank.
Replaced volume pot on channel 1.
Clipped the death cap off.
Installed three prong cord.
Connected a channel bridge on the switch that was "Line Reverse", not needed after safety upgrade.
Pic...dig the dashboard lights!
Face1After.jpg
MWAirlineGut1.jpg
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